Starting off as what seems like a parable on the perils of cliques, Divergent takes, by novel's end, surprising and violent turns to successfully establish not only a believably fragile romance, but a shocking take on Chicago (and therefore America) at the edge of extinction. Without seeming derivative, Divergent captures some of the strong characterization and accessible family portraits of The Hunger Games, while finding enough distance from that influence to say something new about the creation (and elimination) of boundaries within the search for individual identity. Readers may see the ending coming, but they probably won't guess much of what happens along the way.